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Carl Martin has added a new duo to its stompbox lineup: the Classic Optical Envelope and the Blue Ranger. As the name suggests, the former is an envelope filter for guitar and bass with a few extra options (see below). The latter is a Stevie Ray Vaughan-inspired Texas overdrive 'capable of crossing the border into fuzz territory with the gain full out'.
Back story and press blurb below. No prices yet - see Carl Martin for more.
Classic Optical Envelope
"Carl got a call from an old guitar playing friend who said he didn't want to use his wah all the time, but wanted to have some of those effects available.Enter the Classic Optical Envelope… essentially a classic envelope filter (auto-wah utilizing the same opto-technology as the Opto-compressor) for guitar or bass, with a bunch of cool options.
"The first footswitch is for fx on/off (buffered), and the second to select between the three modes (High Pass, Band Pass and Low Pass).Add to this the Level control for overall volume, Drive for how hard the auto-wah will function, Q for adjusting the size of the bandwidth, and Tone which acts as a separate Hi-pass filter, and you have complete control over your fx… from vocal like tones to funky quacks and fat wows!
"Housed in the cool new diecast housing with mini-knobs and cool retro colour, the Classic Optical Envelope can be powered by a 9v battery, but we always recommend a regulated power supply for optimum response!"
Blue Ranger
"While staring at Stevie Ray's statue in Austin, Carl decided to add a Texas style overdrive to the Vintage lineup.Equally suited to single coils or humbuckers and with a True Bypass Switch, the Blue Ranger also incorporates a 'dual-clip' circuit to keep the sound un-muffled and clear at all levels.
"The overly simple controls (Level for overall volume, Gain for the amount of overdrive, and Tone for fine tuning your sound) quickly take you from big open Hendrix-y chords to saturated SRV type leads, and beyond!
"The Blue Ranger will actually cross the border into Fuzz with the Gain full out. Housed in the cool new diecast housing with mini-knobs and cool retro colour, Blue Ranger can be powered by a 9v battery, but we always recommend a regulated power supply for optimum response!"

subset: commoncrawl


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About Us
Role of Agency
- Provide services to help children and families.
- Act to protect children who have been abused or neglected, are at risk of harm, or who are dependent.
- Receive and investigate reports of child abuse and neglect as mandated by law.
- Facilitate placement of children who are abused, neglected or dependent and placed in the custody of Logan County Children's Services by Juvenile Court. Children are placed in least restrictive, most family-like settings, if an alternative placement is needed.
- Emergency Services: This program provides emergency assistance for families in order to prevent a child from becoming dependent, neglected or abused when there are no current allegations of child abuse, neglect or dependency.
- Kinship Services: The Kinship Permanency Incentive Program was created to support children in the homes of family or friends who have committed to caring for them when birth parents cannot. The requirements to receive the payments are: a judicial award of legal custody or legal guardianship after July 2005, Income is not higher than 300 % of federal poverty guidelines, completion of background checks and a home study. If eligible, cash payments will be made every six months, not to exceed 6 payments (three years). The cash award is determined annually by the State. Applications are made to the Children Service agency in which the custodian resides.
- Christmas Assistance Program: Each Christmas season, the Agency partners with local volunteers and other agencies to provide Christmas gifts and assistance to families in need during the holiday season. Each year the program continues to grow and the generosity of our community shines. Any resident of Logan County is able to apply for Christmas Assistance.
- Happy Bear: This program is a child sexual abuse prevention skit which teaches young children about good touches, bad touches and confusing touches. Agency staff volunteer to perform at Safety Town, pre-schools, and elementary grades K-2 in Logan County.


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London-based portrait photographer Helen Bartlett uses black and white photography in natural settings to perfectly capture the unique spirit in every family she works with.
Helen set up her photography business in 2003, having finished a degree in medieval history at the University of Cambridge. She has gone on to become one of the most accomplished and respected family photographers in the UK.


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I went back to Ohio Friday night to see another friend from college get married. This was my fifth such wedding in three years. Surrounded by my Ohio friends and their spouses, I found myself having to consider, once again, what it means to be 29 and not in a meaningful relationship. My last long-term romance concluded in the wake of my graduation from Ohio University in 2006. I immediately migrated to the creative mecca of New York, a city that doesn't pressure you to grow up in the same way the Midwest does. Professionally and creatively-speaking, it is a world class incubator, no doubt. But if you wish to remain a career bachelor, you receive a Big Apple cosign into your seventies. Every transplant I know has had to head home at some point to face the germinating evidence of their profound singleness.
I was in Ohio less than 24 hours, as I had to return to perform a poetry set on Sunday afternoon at the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival in Tompkins Square Park. I am a working poet. Over the past six years, I have led creative writing workshops and performed poetry in auditoriums, bars, syringe exchanges, universities, libraries, prisons, youth centers, bookstores, and theaters in Germany, England, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, and across the United States. The pay is modest but manageable, and every time I seriously consider a less freelance source of income, some new window of opportunity opens whispering, don't be afraid, you are supposed to be here.
When asked to explain my choices, I've said, "Art is how you explain what it feels like to be alive in the 21st century. I am an emotional historian." But that's really my answer to, "Why should we all make art?" My why is more personal. When I hit a writing groove, or perform, all these divided parts focus into one story. In these small moments, I am not confused about what matters.
Looking out at the crowd in Tompkins Square Park, I realize that this is the largest audience I have ever performed for. Over 6,000 people spread across the grass and concrete to see jazz. I go to the bathroom five times in 45 minutes, and nearly throw up in front of the Summer Stage photo backdrop. Jeanne Kabenji once told me that, "Stage fright is your body informing you of a journey into the unknown." I wish I had asked anyone I love to be here.
Yesterday, my mother drove two hours from Cincinnati to take me to breakfast. While my hungover stomach caved in around itself in the Columbus Red Roof Inn, I prayed to the gods of clarity to make me a good son. I've spent too many years taking out my own emotional confusion on my mother because she never stops loving me. She would rather be with me than without me, even when I'm a dick, and I've spent years fashioning that into some sort of license.
I make it through a breakfast burrito, and keep the narratives about last night's reception minimalist. We have two hours until she drives me to the airport, so we go to Goodale Park.
My mother is the kindest person a lot of people know. I often tell her this, and she consistently assures, "You haven't always known me."
She was the seventh of twelve children in an Irish-Catholic, anti-contraception household in Ft. Lee, New Jersey. In 1995, my grandmother was losing a battle with cancer, while single-handedly caring for my grandfather whose brain was succumbing more, each day, to Alzheimer's. She allowed my mother to visit and stay until she passed; to change my grandfather's diapers, take him on walks; to bring my grandmother water, and make her bed. My mother has a history of never asking more from those who are suffering, and she listens to people (not just loved ones) in a way that makes them feel heard. That scene in White Men Can't Jump where Rosie Perez explains love to Woody Harrelson, something like, "I don't want you to bring me water, I want you to sympathize. To say Gloria, I too know what it's like to be thirsty." My mother invented that shit, but she also brings water.
This spawned years of rebellion from me, her youngest son. I pursued independence by repeatedly rejecting, resenting, desperately succumbing to, and then ultimately depending on this profound well of empathy. By "repeatedly," I mean over, and over, and over between the ages of 13 and 28. This didn't prevent me from appreciating my mother, but it did prevent me from humanizing her kindness.
After my parents' brief separation when I was 14, my body would not let my mother cry around me. I would, literally, fall asleep. My father, with a heavy heart, had left the home of his wife and four children in order to find out more about the love he had for another woman. It was impossible for my mother to talk about what was happening without crying, and my reaction was always swift. Eventually, she stopped telling me. For 14 years, we focused on a subject we both loved: Me.
This Saturday in Columbus is the longest time I've spent alone with my mother since I was a teenager. The overt parts of who I am, I immediately trace to my father. I was a chubby kid (as was my dad), and my three older brothers were not, which made everyone assume I was the primary recipient of his genetics. We are both viscerally stubborn, until quietly we are not. We don't allow the ones we love to know we have heard them. We lash out defensively, then, over time, we let them watch us change.
My time slot at the Jazz Festival is just before the headliner: Gregory Porter is a legend, and the park quakes for him. The ten minutes it takes his band to set up is to be filled with poetry. The festival host from Jazz 88.3 says only, "Now welcome the author of The New Clean, Jon Sands." Followed by 6,000 people who do not know I can see each of their faces, individually. I begin a poem called "When I See Andre 3000 Buying Bananas at Trader Joe's." The first line is, I say everything you've ever done/ has meant so much to me./ He says, I've done PCP. I say/ that meant so much to me.
When I get to the part of the poem where Andre 3000 asks me about everything I've ever done, I have to admit, I masturbated this morning picturing/ a woman I made out with two years ago./ I am preachy and self-important/ when I talk about race with my family,/ sometimes when I'm not listening,/ I make my face look like it's SUPER listening.
The crowd communicates two types of people: those who have no idea what is happening on stage at this jazz festival, and are entertained by that, and those who have no idea what is happening, and are decidedly not. I'm not sure which camp I fall in.
The poem ends to a confused smattering of applause, and I say, "The other poem I'd like to read you today is a love poem." This is the first time I have ever been booed. It was only about 100 of 6,000, but 100 sounds like a shitload.
I say, "I know! I can't wait to hear Gregory Porter either, but he needs to set up!" Then I introduce the poem I wrote for the wedding of my brother Ben in October of 2011 on the occasion of his marriage to a Texas transplant named Wendell. They had been engaged before same-sex marriage was legal in New York, and whenever fielding questions of whether they planned to go to Massachusetts to legitimize their nuptials, they'd reply that they wanted to get married in the city where they had fallen in love, where they go to work, pay taxes, argue, take walks, and drink coffee. If the civil rights didn't exist yet— they would vote, and they would wait.
The first time I read the poem aloud was to my brother, sunk into his couch in Hell's Kitchen. It documents the night Ben first knew he loved Wendell, four months into their relationship. Wendell leapt from the bed they shared, mid-credits of a James Bond movie, to execute an interpretive spy dance around Ben's bedroom in his underwear. This man, possessed only by the desire to bring him joy, unlocked Ben. The poem says of my brother, You are traveling into your past where he is/ not, but now you see him everywhere./ In the moving van at nine years old. At thirteen,/ in the mirror and the bottle of pills, he was there./ In the arms of the first man to hold you/ and assure you were beautiful.
In my high school of 2,200 kids, Ben was the only student out-of-the-closet. He came out the summer before his junior year, but four years prior, after being bullied at choir practice by an eighth grader who called him a faggot (something that had happened to him since he was in second grade), he quietly admitted to himself that everyone was right. He was shameful, and it would be best for our family if he wasn't here. He walked into our bathroom and swallowed a bottle of Advil. A half hour later he told my mother, and in three minutes he was riding shotgun in my father's Ford Taurus doing 55 on the back roads to the hospital. The doctors induced vomiting, and he spent the next four hours in a hospital bed while my mother brushed the hair across his forehead and whispered over and over again that she loved him.
I read the poem I wrote for his wedding to this man who I need to never lose faith in me: my brother, who has played an unimaginable role in the person I am attempting to become. The poem had to claw from my mouth as we held each other sobbing on the couch.
The reading in Tompkins Square Park is less cathartic. I can see the individual faces, the ones that have no idea that I'm looking at them. Some are angry that I am still on stage. A few have tears in their eyes. Some are confused. Some not. As though nudged from a dream, my set is over, and I am free to consider what just happened. The stage manager says, "Tough crowd, huh?" I am 29 and single, walking backstage to mild applause.
My mother's younger sister Mary died at four years old. She drowned in a lake behind their house. My mom is 60 now, sitting with me in Goodale Park. She tells me that years after her death, the man who found Mary's body would die as a drunk driver in a car accident. He had carried the body back to their house. Each brother and sister saw her laid out at 4:00 p.m. on the only free bed. A neighbor cooked them all hot dogs and heated up frozen corn, and by 5:00 p.m. all the younger children were put to bed. In the morning, they woke for the wake, and by 2:00 p.m. Mary was buried forever in Fort Lee, New Jersey.
She tells me that when the family got home from the funeral, her two eldest siblings, both in high school, were scheduled to attend a weekly sock-hop. My grandparents urged them to go, saying, "You have to move on with your life." For years, her parents rarely spoke of Mary. My mother would learn in her adult life that they had spent three years of nights privately crying in the dark.
My mom was seven, learning that grief did not involve sadness. You die, then a hole closes around where you were, perhaps leaving a small scar, and then the survivors continue with the business of mortality. Her parents fought, perhaps, the most difficult battle of their lives in silence in order to not burden their children with even a small share of grief.
"Did you think that was a good thing?" I ask.
"Honestly, as a child, I never thought about that."
It wasn't until over a decade later, when my mother was at Creighton University in Omaha, that she slid into a profound depression. Her realization, thousands of miles from her gigantic family and past, was that if she died, it would be a small story on the Creighton Campus, a small story in New Jersey, and ultimately, no one depended on her survival.
Then she tells me, her youngest son, what I never thought to ask. "I really tried hard to be the best person I could be. So that if I died it mattered."
She puts a hand on my forearm, and her face scrunches together like it might withhold what she just said. Tears begin to drop from her cheek and gather on the wood. I can see all that I have inherited in this life from work my mother did before she ever knew me; what it means that I am sitting across from her in an empty park watching her cry. I picture my mother again at the hospital with Ben in 1994. I can see how she must have wanted nothing more than to protect him at choir practice, to defend him in study hall, or anywhere else that adolescence proved itself relentless to her 13-year-old son; how all she had to give was the person she had become, how it placed her by his hospital bed: a steadfast witness, a position she would never abandon; how then when he came out of the closet four years later, she knew that he had saved his own life.
I can see how much it meant to me to be asked to document the love story of my older brother; to be held, weeping on his couch, in recognition of the life we've spent together. Since I was born, I have always assumed I was becoming only my father. I can see how the desire to matter is not a charge that began with my birth, or will culminate with my death. My eyes are open, and I can see, for a moment, who I have become.


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A reader named Raychel has a daughter named Brynnlee Rose. She's expecting her second daughter in early December, and would like some help choosing a name. Here's what she says:
My husband's name begins with Bry, mine with Ray so we'd like it to contain one of those or a combo Bray. No lee, li, lie, ley, leigh endings. If possible we'd like to also honor my Nani, whose name is Delores (Dee), but that could be moved to MN position.
So far we've considered Auraylia, Brayslin, Bryar, Bryonie, Rayenne, Abryelle, Bryenne/Brayenne, Esmeray, Deloray, Araya/h (though I have cousin named Raya & I'm afraid that might be too close!) Rayanna and Rayannon (Rhiannon) are also out because of family! And I can't stand the other typical Ray names, Rayna, Rayleen, Raynelle, etc.
And MN of Nanalie, Derora, Deeana, Delora, Esdee, Delwen, Nanice, Deegen, Delaine (My MN is Elaine) to honor my Nana OR Briar, Evangeline, Scarlett, Rinslett, Liliana.
Lots to think about here! Let's do first names first, middle names second.
I'm partial to first names that are familiar and easy to spell, so many of the above aren't really up my alley. I understand why they include bry and ray, and I do love it when a baby name has a family connection, but I'm also wary about unusual names and/or names that are unnecessarily complicated. Names like these can turn into a headache for the child. I mean, none of the above are terribly difficult, but someone named Abryelle or Brayslin or Rayannon will still have to spell her name out for people on a regular basis. And if that can be avoided, well…why not avoid it?
Here are some other first name possibilities:
Sabrina, but with a y instead of an i.
Grace with an extra letter.
Aubrey's -brey isn't bray, but it's similar.
Does not have bry or ray, but does include all of those letters (a, b, r, y).
Avery, Crystal
Both contain the letters of ray (a, r, y).
Robyn, Ruby
Both contain the letters of bry (b, r, y).
Middle names aren't used as often as first names, so I think people can get away with a lot more when it comes to middles. I really like Delaine (two family names for the price of one!). Delora is also cute. I'm not too keen on the Nana-based names Nanalie and Nanice, though. Especially when you consider that the Nana in question isn't the child's Nana.
Here are a few other middle name ideas, all of which contain the del of Delores:
Adelaide Adele | Adeline Cordelia | Delia Della |
I wonder–was "Dee" by itself ever considered for the middle spot? It would be a direct connection to Raychel's Nana, and also reminiscent of Brynnlee's middle name (in the sense that both are monosyllabic).
Which of the above names do you like best for the sister of Brynnlee Rose? What other name suggestions would you offer to Raychel?


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Why The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Address delivered Saturday morning, October 7, 1972
Brothers and sisters and friends, wherever you are:
As you have been advised, this service is a part of the 142nd Semiannual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Since there were at the time it was organized, as there are today, many other so-called Christian churches, the question "What was the need of another church?" is often asked. To this question I shall respond.
To begin with, it is obvious from the inquiry itself that the existence of so many churches was perplexing. The honest in heart were disturbed and confused as to which, if any, of them was the true church of Christ.
Among the disturbed was one Joseph Smith, Jr., a 14-year-old youth. In the spring of 1820, stirred by a religious revival in the vicinity of Palmyra, New York, where he lived; perplexed by the conflicting claims of the churches; motivated by the admonition and promise of James, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, … and it shall be given him" (James 1:5), Joseph, in childlike faith, inquired of the Lord "which of all the sects was right," that he "might know which to join."
"… I kneeled down [he said] and began to offer up the desire of my heart to God. I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, …
"But, exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me … and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction— … I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.
"It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!" (JS—H 1:15–18).
This vision was the opening scene in an awesome drama that some ten years later culminated in the organization of the Church.
By the Son, with whom he conversed in the heavenly vision, Joseph was told to join none of the existing churches because they "were all wrong." (JS—H 1:19.) They lacked both necessary components of the church of Jesus Christ, namely, his gospel and his name.
Indispensable elements of the gospel, which they lacked, included:
The truth concerning the personality of God and man's relationship to him,
A knowledge of its saving principles and ordinances,
The priesthood of God, and
Continuing revelation.
As to the first element, the personality of God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ, Joseph learned the truth in the vision above referred to. Later he said of them, "The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's; the Son also. …" (D&C 130:22.)
As to man's relationship to God, Joseph learned from a subsequent revelation that the inhabitants of "the worlds" (including those of us on this earth) "are begotten sons and daughters unto God." (D&C 76:24.)
These fundamental truths concerning God and man's relationship to him were not being taught by the churches of Joseph Smith's day, for the obvious reason that they were neither known nor believed. It is true that they were known and taught and believed by members of the church of Christ in the days of Jesus and his apostles. But in 1830 an understanding of them had long since been lost. It was ignorance of a true knowledge of God and man's relationship to him that spawned the many churches.
During the 1820s a knowledge of the fundamental principles and ordinances of the gospel was revealed anew from heaven to the boy prophet, Joseph Smith. Many of these principles and ordinances he learned from the Book of Mormon, which came to him in the following manner.
In September 1827, Moroni, an ancient American historian and prophet, at that time resurrected, delivered to Joseph a record inscribed on thin sheets of gold, which, by the gift and power of God, Joseph translated. This record contained an explanation of the principles and ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ, as it was taught and implemented among the ancient people of America.
In 1829 Joseph published his translation under the title The Book of Mormon. This book contains a record of the personal ministry of Jesus Christ among the inhabitants of America immediately following his post-resurrection ministry in the land of Jerusalem. To them he taught his gospel, even as he had taught it in Palestine. Among them he organized his church. Upon their leaders he conferred the holy priesthood. He instructed them concerning, and showed them how to administer, the saving ordinances of his gospel.
By the time he published the Book of Mormon Joseph had also received the third indispensable element of the gospel, namely, the holy priesthood, which empowered him to act for and in the name of God.
The Aaronic Priesthood he received in May of 1829. While translating the Savior's teachings concerning baptism as they are recorded in the Book of Mormon, he and his scribe, Oliver Cowdery, besought the Lord for further light upon the subject. As they knelt in prayer they were visited by a heavenly messenger who said that his name was "John, the same that is called John the Baptist in the New Testament." This messenger laid his hands upon their heads and said:
"Upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah, I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins. …" (D&C 13.)
A few weeks later Peter, James, and John conferred upon Joseph and Oliver the Melchizedek Priesthood and ordained them apostles. (See Documentary History of the Church, vol. 1, p. 40.)
The fourth indispensable element of the gospel, continuing revelation, came with the restoration of the priesthood. It is obvious, from the manner in which Joseph Smith received a knowledge of God and of the principles and ordinances of the gospel, that he himself was receiving direct revelation from heaven. But this is not all that was necessary.
Every member of Christ's church in the meridian of time received the gift of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is a revelator. To receive him is to be spiritually reborn. Remember, Jesus said to Nicodemus: "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." (John 3:5.)
To receive the gift of the Holy Ghost is to be born of the Spirit. The Lord instructed the priesthood officers of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints "to confirm those who are baptized into the church, by the laying on of hands for the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost, according to the scriptures." (D&C 20:41.)
The priesthood and the power of the Holy Ghost is what gives life to the Church and its members:
"… the special office of the Holy Ghost is to enlighten and ennoble the mind, to purify and sanctify the soul, to incite to good works, and to reveal the things of God." (James E. Talmage, Articles of Faith, p. 167.)
Without this gift, the Church would be as dead and impotent as an electric powerhouse without electricity.
Having thus received a new dispensation of the gospel, Joseph Smith was qualified to reestablish the church of Christ upon the earth, as he was directed by the Lord to do. Such direction came in various revelations, in which the manner and the date of organization were specified.
Obedient to these commandments, Joseph Smith, Jr., did, on April 6, 1830, organize the Church of Jesus Christ at Fayette, Seneca County, New York, strictly in harmony with the commandments of God and the laws of the land.
Thus the answer to the question—Why was the Church organized when there were already so many churches?—is obviously because the Lord Jesus Christ himself directed Joseph Smith to organize it.
Now, the Lord not only directed Joseph to organize his church: he told him what to name it.
It is a fact worth noting that of all the churches then claiming to represent Christ, not one of them bore his name. Joseph learned from the teachings of Jesus to the Nephites that no church could be Christ's church unless it did bear his name. When the Nephites raised the question about what to name his church, Jesus, as he ministered among them, said:
"… how be it my church save it be called in my name? For if a church be called in Moses' name then it be Moses' church; or if it be called in the name of a man then it be the church of a man; but if it be called in my name then it is my church, if it so be that they are built upon my gospel." (3 Ne. 27:8.)
This statement gives us the twofold test: Christ's church (1) must bear his name, and (2) must be built upon his gospel.
That there should be no uncertainty about the name in this last dispensation, the Lord said to Joseph Smith: "… thus shall my church be called in the last days, even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." (D&C 115:4. Italics added.)
The phrase "Mormon Church" is a nickname.
The restored church thus meets the Savior's twofold test: it bears his name and it is built upon his gospel. About this there can be no doubt, because both the name and the gospel were by the Lord Jesus Christ himself revealed to Joseph Smith.
And now in conclusion, I would like to say a few words about, and bear my testimony concerning, the restored gospel and church of Jesus Christ.
There have been no occurrences on this earth since the ministry of Jesus in the meridian of time of such importance to you and to me as the events we have just reviewed. They occurred for the benefit of Joseph Smith and his associates not only, but for the sake of the whole world.
Introducing the revelations given to the Prophet, the Lord said:
"… Hearken ye people from afar; and ye that are upon the islands of the sea, listen together.
"For verily the voice of the Lord is unto all men, and there is none to escape; and there is no eye that shall not see, neither ear that shall not hear, neither heart that shall not be penetrated.
"And again, verily I say unto you, O inhabitants of the earth: I the Lord am willing to make these things known unto all flesh;
"For I am no respecter of persons, and will that all men shall know that the day speedily cometh; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand [this was in 1831], when peace shall be taken from the earth, and the devil shall have power over his own dominion.
"And also the Lord shall have power over his saints, and shall reign in their midst, and shall come down in judgment upon … the world." (D&C 1:1–2, 34–36.)
Today, more than 140 years since the foregoing words were spoken, peace has been taken from the earth. The devil now has power over his dominion, and the Lord has power over his saints. The day approaches when he will "come down in judgment upon … the world" and reign in the midst of his people.
Between now and then, however, if men and nations continue on their present course, great tribulation will come upon us. There shall be more "wars and rumors of wars, … there shall be earthquakes also in divers places, and many [other] desolations. … the whole earth shall be in commotion. …" (D&C 45:26, 33.) Those are the words of the Lord himself.
The Lord foresaw the coming of these calamities and gave warning of them. He restored his gospel and reestablished his church as a means of escape therefrom.
About a year and a half after the Church was organized, he thus explained the cause of our present predicament:
"… they [speaking of the inhabitants of the earth] have strayed from mine ordinances, and have broken mine everlasting covenant;
"They seek not the Lord to establish his righteousness, but every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own God, whose image is in the likeness of the world, and whose substance is that of an idol, which waxeth old and shall perish in Babylon, even Babylon the great, which shall fall.
"Wherefore, I the Lord, knowing the calamity which should come upon the inhabitants of the earth, called upon my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., and spake unto him from heaven, and gave him commandments;
"And also gave commandments to others, that they should proclaim these things unto the world. …" (D&C 1:15–18.)
The commandments to be proclaimed to the world are the principles and ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ. By restoring his gospel and reestablishing his church in the earth, the Lord has provided the means for our temporal as well as for our spiritual salvation.
The restoration fulfills the prediction of Daniel that in the days of the disunited kingdoms "the God of heaven [would] set up a kingdom, which [would] never be destroyed. …" (Dan. 2:44.)
It fulfills Micah's prophecy that "in the last days … the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it." (Micah 4:1.)
It is the fulfillment of John's vision in which he saw an "angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
"Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come. …" (Rev. 14:6–7.)
Yes, verily, it is the "restitution of all things" which Peter said would come in preparation for the second advent of the Lord. (See Acts 3:21.)
And now, as a special witness of Jesus Christ, I add my personal testimony that all these things are true. And I bear further witness to all of you who hear or read what I am saying that if you will inform yourselves of the historical facts and revealed truths of the restoration and then humbly and sincerely call upon the Father in the name of Jesus Christ, he will give you like assurance by the power of the Holy Ghost. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord.


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I just got off the phone with startup called Landscape Mobile, that publishes an app called Sight, and which claims:
Sight [is] an app that takes an image -- a screenshot -- and finds the article behind the image, retrieves the content, and then formats it for a better reading experience.
Let me clarify that for you ... when there's content displayed on your iOS screen that exists on the Web and you take a screenshot, the Sight app searches the Internet for that content and, if found, adds the page to a list that Sight keeps on your iDevice. Selecting an item on the list displays the page content reformatted to be more readable with a link at the top that will take you to the target page.
The thinking behind the app is that saving Web content displayed by browsers and various apps is somehow difficult and Sight makes it easier. That said, I'm not sure how taking a screenshot is easier than clicking on a browser's menu to send the link by email or save the URL as a bookmark. I also have some serious issues with the app's design because it is counterintuitive and doesn't follow many of the expected UI design models that iOS users are used to.
According to Landscape Mobile:
The day that the team came up with the idea for Sight, they pulled an all-nighter to get the first version prototyped. The designers and front end engineers then created many iterations to make the app simple and elegant, while the backend engineers built out a series of smart systems to find and bring the best matching articles to the user. Now that Sight is ready we're excited to present it to the world, and see how it helps users collect information more easily and efficiently.
I am, as you might have guessed, not sold on this pitch.
The first of the UI issues appear when you fire up the app and are presented with a screen that explains how the app is to be used. Unfortunately the screen doesn't make it clear that you need to take a screenshot of the page that's displayed to start the app (by the time you read this that oversight may have been fixed).
The next UI issue is that there's a summary screen that is only visible by swiping down on the display (yes, this potentially conflicts with iOS's swipe down to reveal the notifications panel) but, again, there are no instructions or UI indications that this screen exists. The really big problem here is that if you don't know this screen exists and how to get to it then you can't access the configuration page which we'll come back to in a minute.
The summary screen shows how many articles you've "sighted" as well as giving you some stats about your ranking in "sighting" the article and how many people have followed you but I can't say these metrics give any useful insight into your social reach.
The configuration screen, revealed by touching a gear-like icon on the summary screen, allows you to enable or disable various settings. The first setting is whether to auto-analyze new screenshots, the next is whether to enable background analysis, and the third is whether to allow notifications when articles have been analyzed.
The second setting is interesting because it uses iOS's geolocation change notification API to trigger background processing (location changes are notified to all applications that have registered for callbacks for geolocation changes). The Sight app, of course, doesn't care about geolocation at all and just uses this feature as a an opportunity to process screen captures.
But when you enable background processing the option disappears from the settings page! This is ridiculous. There's no guidance that the option ever existed and therefore no guidance on how to disable the feature should you want to (sure, you, a techie, know how to do this but consumers, who are very much the target audience, will not).
There are also a number of other options in the configuration panel such as rating the app, providing feedback, social media following, etc., that aren't that interesting. According to the company:
The day that the team came up with the idea for Sight, they pulled an all-nighter to get the first version prototyped. The designers and front end engineers then created many iterations to make the app simple and elegant, while the backend engineers built out a series of smart systems to find and bring the best matching articles to the user. Now that Sight is ready we're excited to present it to the world, and see how it helps users collect information more easily and efficiently.
There's something else that Landscape does that annoys the crap out of me when any service provider or app does it: They don't ask you to confirm your password; they give you one shot at setting your password without allowing you to see what you've typed so if you, like me, suffer from having banana-like fingers and you miskey your intended password you won't know until you try to log in after which you'll have to go through the tedious whole password reset process.
This might all sound harsh but the team should have taken their time rather than rush an "all-nighter" because what they've produced is naive. Moreover, as I wrote above, I'm not convinced of the need for this app given the existing tools for saving URLs; despite the company's claims, images are not a better or more efficient way to access and catalog Web content (in my first few attempts the app returned a completely - not slightly - wrong page for the screenshot I saved. I have no idea if this is as common as the roughly one in twelve failures I experienced ... I ran out of patience).
The founders of Landscape have apparently good credentials and consequently IDG Capital Partners and individual investors gave them a seed fund investment of $1.85 million for a valuation of $10 million (wow) so perhaps the investors can see something I don't. The same goes for the various industry publications that have breathlessly reported on Sight with an obvious lack of hands-on.
According to Yue Zhuge, CEO of Landscape Mobile, as quoted by Marketwatch and Digital Journal straight from Landscape Media's Business Wire press release, "In Sight, we put images front and center as the new user-friendly URL for mobile - images can now be used smartly to discover related info ... Smart technologies such as ours separate the important DNA within images from the clutter, unlocking the power of the mobile web."
Sorry, but in Sight I just don't see it.


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February 12, 2014
University Distinguished Faculty Award for Mentoring of Undergraduate Students in Research
The provost's office is accepting nominations for the University Distinguished Faculty Award for Mentoring of Undergraduate Students in Research. The annual award honors those who exhibit excellence in faculty mentoring of undergraduate students in research.
The award is given to a faculty member at the rank of assistant, associate or full professor based upon mentoring that occurred in the previous academic year. An award of $2,500 is provided. Eligible faculty may be nominated by K-State faculty, students, staff or administrators.
The nominations deadline is Feb. 22. Applications should be submitted electronically as a PDF to Gail Zeak at email@example.com.
Nomination criteria include evidence of:
- Ongoing scholarly activity by the faculty member and demonstrated support of students' professional and scholarly development — peer-reviewed publications, presentations and other scholarly activities.
- Mentoring activities such as engaging students with other undergraduates, faculty, and professional organizations; scholarship support; preprofessional activities; and post-baccalaureate applications.
- Successful and inclusive recruitment of other faculty to mentor undergraduate researchers, including students from diverse backgrounds and underrepresented groups.


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The beginning of the year holds many traditions: we watch a ball drop, we kiss someone at midnight, we make noise, and we make resolutions on how to better ourselves. Also, we drink. Here we are now, over a week into the new year. Have you made any resolutions? If so, how are you holding up? Maybe you quit smoking. Maybe you started exercising. Maybe you swore off chocolate for a month. Whatever it may be that you've resolved to do, we have something better.
Quit drinking alcohol.
This might seem contradictory – telling you to quit drinking after stating how alcohol is part of our New Year traditions. However, there is a major difference between one midnight glass of champagne and a night on the town. For America, statistics show that we rarely stop at one glass.
Well over half of American adults consider themselves drinkers, and nearly 90% of American adults have been drunk. Over 16 million people are addicted to alcohol in this country. Nearly 100,000 people die annually from alcohol-related causes. It's safe to say we Americans like our booze.
Here are ten reasons why quitting alcohol should have been your New Year's resolution. The first half consists of physical reasons, and the second half consists of more outlying reasons. If you are among those who enjoy drinking responsibly, do not read on. This is for those who either have a drinking problem or are close to having one. You know who you are.
1. Alcohol Will Kill You
Alcohol claims 88,000 lives every year in America alone. On a global scale, that number jumps to over 3 million. This means someone dies from alcohol abuse every ten seconds. Disturbingly, 6% of all deaths in the world are attributable to alcohol. If it isn't alcohol itself that kills you, it's being drunk that will.
Approximately 16,000 people die every year from alcohol-caused liver disease. Another 10,000 people die every year from alcohol-caused car accidents. Nearly 2,000 die every year from unintentional injuries sustained while drunk. The list goes on, and must accommodate the remaining 60,000 American deaths alcohol causes each year.
Death is obviously the worst outcome of drinking alcohol. Unfortunately, you don't have to be an alcoholic to die from drinking. The dangers are all too real, especially on the road. Alcohol is the fourth leading cause of preventable death in the US. Remember, your being a responsible drinker may save innocent lives. No buzz is worth the life of another human being.
2. Alcohol Can Get You Sick
An interesting study was performed at the University of Maryland recently. They started with a group of healthy young people whose blood cell counts were normal. The researchers had them drink, in 20 minutes, the equivalent of five liquor shots. A few hours later, all of the drinkers "showed significant decreases in disease-fighting cells in their blood," according to Men's Health.
"These cells are major players in our innate immune system, which is kind of like the first-response system in our bloodstream when there is something that is not supposed to be there, like an infection, foreign body, or injury," said Dr. Majid Afshar, one of the researchers.
Alcohol weakens the immune system temporarily, and the more you drink, the less immunity to sickness you will have. Therefore, drinking puts you at greater risk for becoming sick. It also can worsen any existing sickness you already have.
3. Alcohol Is Extremely Addictive
Alcohol is highly addictive because the brain ends up needing it to function properly. The neurotransmitters and endorphins released act as a reward system for the brain, and with prolonged use, actual changes in the brain occur. In extreme cases, alcoholics cannot even feel joy without alcohol in their system. Essentially, alcohol is addictive because it becomes needed in order to feel normal.
It turns out ethanol, the type of alcohol in adult beverages, is not an addictive substance. The chemical reactions ethanol causes in our brains are addictive. That's sort of a scary notion. It's not even alcohol that we're addicted to – it's a feeling we can only get from alcohol.
What's worse than being addicted to alcohol is quitting it once you're addicted. In fact, alcohol withdrawal can be fatal. Quitting at home and safely quitting with the right help are two completely different things. Going 'cold turkey' can cause very negative side effects, including dehydration, vomiting, arrhythmia, and even Delirium Tremens (commonly called DTs). Withdrawal seizures are common as well, experienced by 60% of those who quit alcohol. DTs, which are potentially fatal full-body seizures, happen to 30-40% of those who experience withdrawal seizures.
4. Alcohol Abuse Can Cause Amnesia
Chances are you've seen someone blacked out from alcohol. Maybe you yourself have. Contrary to popular belief, a blacked out person could actually seem coherent. According to Dr. Aaron White of the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), "It can be quite difficult for an outside observer to tell if someone is in a blackout. The person could seem aware and articulate, but without any memory being recorded."
The key element to why you should quit alcohol is the last part of Dr. White's quote. Since no memory is being recorded during a blackout, it is officially defined as a form of amnesia. Although blackouts are temporary, they are considered dangerous for two reasons: your brain is malfunctioning, and you're at high-risk for unintentional injury.
With prolonged alcohol abuse, the amnesia can be permanent, and with much worse symptoms. WKS is a memory-impairing, vision-affecting, seizure-causing disorder, most commonly brought on by severe alcohol abuse. The two main required symptoms for diagnosis are both forms of amnesia: anterograde amnesia, which causes loss of the ability to create memories, and retrograde amnesia, which causes loss of previously-formed memories. In short, severe alcohol abuse can cause you to lose memories and to stop making them altogether.
5. Alcohol Causes Ten Types of Cancer
If that seems like a heavy statement, it is indeed. Last July, the Society for the Study of Addiction performed a study with alarming results. Up to 6% of all cancer in the world is attributable to alcohol. There are seven types of cancer the study proved can be caused by alcohol: liver, colon, rectal, breast, oropharyngeal, laryngeal, and esophageal. (The last three types affect areas of the mouth and throat.) In addition, there are three types of cancer shown to be possibly caused by alcohol: skin, prostate, and pancreatic.
The majority of alcohol broken down by the body is eventually turned into something called acetaldehyde. This substance is a group 1 carcinogen, known to cause cancer in human beings. This is truly terrifying. One might argue that moderation is the key to avoiding this risk, but the study proved otherwise. Any more than one beer a day puts you at risk for these ten types of cancer.
6. Your Kids Will Drink
Alcoholism is a disease, and diseases tend to 'run in the family'. Evidence suggests that some people may be genetically predisposed to say yes to drinking, and also that genetics help determine what happens to you if and when you say yes to drinking. Basically, if alcoholism is prevalent in your family, you still have the choice to say yes or no, but evidence suggests that you're probably going to take that drink. Alcoholism is approximately half hereditary.
Anyone can become an alcoholic, whether or not he or she is genetically predisposed to becoming one. However, a study conducted by both Indiana and Purdue Universities proved there to be over 900 genes associated with alcoholism. The vast majority of these genes are located in genetic regions of the brain.
So while it's not a guarantee that your offspring will drink like you do, there's a 50% greater risk increase for your kids to drink like you do. Why risk it? Please note this does not mean one can blame drinking on their parents.
7. Alcohol Increases Risk of Suicide
"Alcohol increases impulsivity and decreases inhibition. It increases negative self-image and decreases self-esteem; deepens depression and social isolation; and rises with the amount and length of time alcohol is consumed. Alcohol use fosters either/or and all or nothing thinking, and a lower concern for the future consequences of one's actions. Many suicide attempts occur during binge drinking."
This quote from a Pennsylvanian emergency service website is concerning. The facts are even more so. Thousands of suicides involve alcohol every year. Being an alcoholic makes you 120 times more vulnerable to a suicide attempt. Two more terrible facts: 33% of those who commit suicide do it drunk, and 18% of alcoholics commit suicide. The link is undeniable. Alcohol increases risk of suicide even in those who are not at all suicidal. Imagine what alcohol does to people who are contemplating ending their own lives.
8. Alcohol Causes Domestic Violence
The American Medical Association reported recently that 92% of domestic abusers are literally drinking at the time of the incident. Here is another undeniable link. Six out of ten domestic abusers have a proven substance abuse issue. There are two sides to the coin of alcohol and domestic violence being related. One involves those who are domestic abusers and drink after the fact, and one involves those who are not domestic abusers but do so under the influence of alcohol.
Regarding domestic abusers, alcohol severely increases the likelihood of abusing. In other words, a domestic abuser will abuse his or her spouse while sober, but is much more likely to do so while drunk. Regarding non-abusers, prolonged alcohol use can cause domestic violence. Alcohol abuse puts a financial strain on a family, as well as changes the behavior of the abuser. The stress that comes from all of this is not dealt with, and produces more of a need to drink/abuse. If a spouse attempts to stop the abusive other from consuming alcohol, this often triggers violence.
9. Alcohol Can Ruin Relationships
Drinking alcohol in excess causes one to be irritable, argumentative, and even abusive. Consider this quote from Control Tonight: "Drinking too much can cause a person to be moody or defensive, act abusive or aggressive and/or lie to the people they love." We all know this is true. Even if it's in a lighthearted way, we all know that someone (or maybe it's you) who is a terrible drunk. Eventually that person, if they keep drinking, will ruin most or all of their relationships.
Yours truly knows someone whose friends and family abandoned due to his alcohol abuse. Over time, his lying, stealing, bad-mouthing and overall bad attitude simply drove away his loved ones. He currently lives alone and is addicted to other substances as well as alcohol.
10. Alcohol Costs Too Much
Yes, alcohol costs too much physically and emotionally. That has been proven time and time again. However, alcohol also costs a lot of money. If you want to know exactly how much you could save by quitting alcohol, use this calculator provided by the National Institutes of Health. In case you don't have Internet access currently, here's a screenshot of the calculator:
Let's say you only drink on weekends, not including Friday. Let's say on Saturdays you have a six-pack and Sundays you drink four beers. If a six-pack costs ten bucks, you could save $72 a month, or $863 a year. This is light to moderate drinking. Let's say you know someone (or maybe it's you) who drinks a twelve-pack every other day. That person could be saving over $2,000 per year. If not for your health, quit for your wallet.
In Conclusion
The conclusion here is pretty simple. Quit drinking. If you resolved to lose some weight this year, quitting drinking will help. If you resolved to save more money, drinking will help. If you just want to be healthier overall, quitting drinking should be your main priority. If you don't drink, congratulations, and thanks for reading!!
In all seriousness, if you or someone you know is battling an alcohol dependence, please seek help immediately. Alcohol addiction can be deadly.


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'Prometheus' at Utah State University
"Symphonies of Movement and Color: Scriabin's Prometheus," is part of a yearlong series of events at the Caine College of the Arts called "Enchanted Modernities." The Utah State University concert and light show is Nov. 23 at the Kent Concert Hall in the Chase Fine Arts Center on the Logan campus.
The concert features British composer Gustav Holst's Hymn of Jesus and Russian composer Alexander Scriabin's Prometheus Poem of Fire. The performance features the USU Symphony Orchestra, USU Chamber Singers and USU Chorale.
"'Prometheus' will be accompanied by spectacular colored lighting effects that the composer specified in his musical score, despite the fact that when the work was premiered in 1905 such effects were impossible to achieve," said Christopher Scheer, assistant professor of music at USU.
Laura Jackson, music director of the Reno Philharmonic, will conduct the concert and is in residence at USU for the week. Anna Gawboy, assistant professor of music theory at The Ohio State University, will also be in residence. She will speak during the concert to place the Scribin piece in context before it is played.
"Dr. Gawboy's scholarly work on 'Prometheus' led to the realization of the lighting effects the audience will experience at the concert," said Scheer. "The effect is astounding."
Marco Pasi, associate professor in history of hermetic philosophy at the University of Amerstam, will also be in residence at USU. Pasi is a network member of a Leverhulme Grant that partially funds the "Enchanted Modernities" series.
"In addition to these guests, I will also speak at the concert, contextualizing the Holst piece before it is performed," said Scheer. "This has been the focus of much of my scholarly work."
Tickets for the event are $10 general admission, $8 seniors and youth, $5 faculty and staff and free for USU students with valid ID. For more information and tickets, visit the CCA Box Office in room 139-B of the Chase Fine Arts Center, call 435-797-8022 or see the college's Production Services website.
Related links:
Writer: Whitney Schulte, 435-797-9203, firstname.lastname@example.com
Contact: Denise Albiston, 435-797-1500, email@example.com
Comments and questions regarding this article may be directed to the contact person listed on this page.


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Each Playlist Nothing contains a complete listing of the pieces played on that edition of Radio Nothing in sequence along with the times of the microphone breaks. Also each playlist also features a complete listing of sources used including: Reference Number, Artist, Title, Type of media (CD, LP, Cassette, etc.), Date of Publication, Serial Number, and Label information including (when available) addresses, fax telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, Internet addresses, etc. Thus, if you're really smitten with something that you have heard on Radio Nothing, you should be able to track it down.
Radio Nothing #2246 The Invisible Footprints Edition Tuesday/Wednesday, June 17/18, 2008 18h35 to 2h00
Radio Nothing #2245 The There's No Theme Like The Present Edition Tuesday, June 3, 2008 18h35 to 22h00
If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me via e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
Thanks for your interest!
Rod Richardson


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I'm working on a set of t-shirts for the Global Spin community (plus a secret project I'll unveil later this month). I have a couple designs mocked up already and a decent place to make and sell them, and I've run into a bit of a snag.
There are too many kinds of freaks.
That's ordinarily not a problem for us. We protect our freaks, no matter what kind. But I'm having trouble thinking of a complete list, let alone designs for them all, so I need your help. Where should I start? What kind of freak are you?
- Transit Freak
- Neat Freak
- Sci-Fi Freak
- Space Freak
- Plant Freak
- Super-Freak
- Geek Freak
- just plain Freak
- other (specify)
- some kinda freak, i'm not sure what
- I'm not a freak, freak!
And remember, this is for posterity so be honest. Include as many categories as you think apply. For instance, I'm a Transit Freak, a Sci-Fi Freak, a Space Freak, a Science Freak, and a Geek Freak. Like they say: I'm not just the founder, I'm a client.
So let your freakness shine. What kind of freak are you, anyway?
UPDATE: Just to be clear, I'm looking for your complete list, not just the freakishness that isn't on the list yet.� Be complete!


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Microsoft PowerPivot for Microsoft Excel 2010 provides ground-breaking technology, such as fast manipulation of large data sets (often millions of rows), streamlined integration of data, and the ability to effortlessly share your analysis through Microsoft SharePoint 2010.
I have recently started to work with SQL Server 2008 R2 and find the product extremely stable and feature complete. I have installed PowerPivot and I am finding it to be also integrating very well with the product. I recently did one presentations using this two technology and worked very well.
Let me know if you are using PowerPivot for your power BI users. If you are using what is their experience?
Download Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 – PowerPivot for Microsoft Excel 2010 – RTM
Reference: Pinal Dave (https://blog.sqlauthority.com)


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Surgeries II
Well, that certainly put a cat among the pigeons...
On Monday I published this post on Anne Milton's failure to publicise surgery details and anonymous 'contributors' came from out of the woodwork to defend Anne's position.
Well, actually, what they mostly did was attack mine. Their 'arguments' ranged from unsubstantiated claims that I'm a member of the Liberal Democrats to assurances that the appointment policy was due in part to unstable people like me wanting to do the poor woman harm. They even went on to suggest that I was the thin edge of the terror wedge. But they did nothing to disprove my actual point.
Well, they *almost* did, but I'll get onto that foot-in-mouth moment in a jiffy. Firstly, here is what has been established so far:
FACT #1 - Anne Milton had a 'no appointment' policy when she held psudo-surgeries before the election, but she has an appointment policy now.
Best defence from the Miltonites: Now she's a 'high profile' MP, she is a target. Sue Doughty required appointments. Wahhhh!
FACT #2 - Anne Milton publicised her pseudo-surgeries heavily - even to the point of advertising in the Surrey Ad - before the election, but has failed to do so now she's been elected.
Best defence from the Miltonites: Two anonymous contributors (make that 3 - see below) claimed to have received literature through their letterbox that contained surgery details. Again, I'll get onto that in a jiffy.
FACT #3 - Upon becoming an MP, Anne Milton did not go anywhere near the lengths Sue Doughty once went to to publicise her advice surgeries. Within weeks of becoming our MP, Sue Doughty put out posters showing dates and localities and the number to call to book an appointment and had them distributed to local public libraries and/or posted on public noticeboards. Anne Milton has failed to do the same.
Best defence from the Miltonites: A suggestion that 'Lib-Dem thugs' had been tearing Anne Milton's surgery notices down.... but no claim that they were published or put there in the first place.
FACT #4 - Anne Milton does not mention the current availability of surgeries on her website (unless you count the references made to them in PDF versions of Conservative leaflets that 'tomtom' argues put them 'in the public domain') and she certainly doesn't list dates and locations as many other MPs do.
Best defence from the Miltonites: "What other MP's (sic) do is their business."
On that last point, I'd just like to say that this makes Anne less than extraordinary. In fact, it makes her efforts seem less than ordinary. Moving on...
All of these 'defences' were buried amongst a load of accusatory hyperbole and diversion. When asked to put up or shut up on any particular claim or accusation (be it on-topic or not), they failed to put up... then failed to shut up. One anonymous contributor was so intent on disrupting debate, he (or she) had to be moderated. Then the new diversion was a load of bull about the right to free speech. Anonymous contributions are welcome on this site, but if you make a claim or accusation, you had better be prepared to back it up with evidence, see it investigated, or at the very least put your name to it.
Now, as I type this and prepare to address the aforementioned mystery-pamphlet, another anonymous Miltonite has piped up and claimed to have received this same literature outlining surgery details. So that's three people, all of them stolid supporters of Anne Milton, and all recipients of this same mysterious pamphlet. That they refuse to show me.
I'd very much like to see a copy of this pamphlet and/or learn more about where it was distributed, as circumstances would suggest that they were delivered only to members of the Conservative Party and/or members of Guildford Conservatives.
If this is the case, then the MP who pledged to serve *all* of Guildford has just been caught out giving her Tory supporters preferential treatment on advice surgeries.
I've seen a few different versions of the local Tory newsletter 'Local Issues', and they do mention surgeries. You can also see another circular sent to some residents of Bramley here, and yes, this also contains the following message: Anne holds regular surgeries. To make an appointment please call 01483 300330.
No dates, no details... but enough, you may argue, to be informed enough to ask about dates and locations. (*If* you were lucky enough to receive this and/or if you've signed up for the Guildford Conservatives. But you *definitely* will have received these details if you were a happy recipient of the former, which is a Guildford Conservatives newsletter.)
None of these anonymous contributors seem willing to confirm it, but it would certainly appear that one of these items this is the literature they're referring to.
And when the implications of what they'd inadvertently revealed hit them - that's when the anonymous Miltonites went well and truly batshit. It was Diversion City.
They ducked, they dived, they questioned my sanity and called this a hate campaign... before finally settling on the suggestion that perhaps Anne was putting out literature about surgery details region by region, and they just haven't reached letterboxes in my area yet. Unless, of course, you've signed up for the Guildford Conservatives.
They even suggested that I wasn't doing my part because I failed to publish those details here on this website (when Anne has clearly published them on her website somewhere in the back pages stashed inside a range of PDF files).
I can do better than that, folks... but first I'd like to point out that when I called Anne Milton's office on Monday and requested future surgery dates, only one was available (if you want to book an appointment for this date, please call 01483 300330):
12th of August at Sutherland Memorial Hall
I was assured that no further dates would be set until Anne came back from holiday.
So, if a pamphlet arrives on my doorstep outlining these dates:
Surgeries are arranged by appointment through Anne Milton's office in Guildford. To book an appointment at one of Annes surgeries please call 01483 300330 or email firstname.lastname@example.com Anne's next Surgeries are: 8th July - Bramley Village Hall, Hall Road, Bramley. - (17.15 - 19.00) 15th July - Guildford Conservative Association, 15 London Road, Guildford. GU1 2AA (09.00 - 11.00) 22nd July - Guildford Borough Council Offices, Meillmead - (16.00 - 18.00)
... then it's a bit sodding late, because it's now the 27th of July and my flux capacitor is in the shop for repairs.
If a pamphlet magically arrives with new dates in the next week/month, then it's the A281 all over again. Anne Milton will have promised, suggested, claimed or provided a certain level of service before the election, and then failed to deliver the same after she was elected... until she was shamed into doing so.
In my view, Milton has tried to bluff her way through and minimise her workload by simply reducing the number of people who were aware of surgeries being held in their area at a suitable time/date. Unless of course, they're members of Guildford Conservatives, in which case they've had a fair shot of finding out the details for themselves.
Now, onto me doing my bit.... here's my draft for a poster promoting the only available date we have at the moment:
If anyone from Anne's office wishes me to revise the design or content before publication and distribution, then they have but to ask. Of course, I could simply publish it here and claim that this offer was in the public domain, but I'll do the polite thing and email them directly.
If they fail to get back to me within 3 days, then I'll have to assume that we're good to go. Unless one of Anne Milton's supporters (sorry, best make that 'independent observers') wishes to have a say. In which case, they will need to make their requests for revision directly via email. For security reasons, natch.
Labels: inaction


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Legacy Genealogy Cruise - Travel Day and Barcelona
September 04, 2009
It's 2am Saturday morning, which is usually the middle of the night for me. Me, my wife, and daughter are wide awake on the 6th floor of the Montblanc Hotel in downtown Barcelona. Isn't jet lag great! Back home it's 5pm and my three boys are just beginning our Friday night tradition – pizza and a movie – this time with Grandma (thanks Mom for babysitting while I begin the vacation of a lifetime…). Kaitlyn, who turns 8 months old tomorrow, did pretty well on 12 plus hours of airplane rides yesterday, although she did let everyone on the plane know that she was there.
Last night we toured Barcelona via taxi en route to our hotel. After checkin we found a great Spanish restaurant. Delicious! Returning to the streets, we suddenly found ourselves in the middle of some kind of protest. Thousands of locals were peacefully chanting something – I wish I knew more Spanish. It was quite touching seeing the exercise of their freedom.
In just a few short hours we head to the ship – Norwegian Cruise Line's Jade – to meet our other Legacy cruisers. Tonight we explore the ship, eat, and enjoy the Broadway-style entertainment. Tomorrow the Legacy classes begin as the ship sails towards Rome.


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It was a gorgeous day up in Eden Park and despite Blondie Boy not always being the most cooperative subject we got some amazing photos.
I wore a purple vest I got at the Gap outlet and a Mossimo flannel shirt from Target. Blondie Boy's sweater is from Target and his pirate t-shirt from the J. Crew outlet. I freaking love American outlets and Target. We have outlets in the UK but they really don't even come close to comparing to the ones back home.
I'm so grateful we were able to get some photos for my Grandma and for ourselves. I love that photo of my sister and her husband and the ones of Blondie Boy in playing in the water fountain with NBH are just such fun! I'm really grateful we were able to get them done--how often do you get family photos done?


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Michelle Obama, not surprisingly, wants to turn the page on Jeremiah Wright and focus on the issues:
"Let's not elect somebody who has been there and hasn't done it," Michelle Obama said in a fairly clear reference to Clinton. She said education was the issue that most concerns parents and her husband is the only one who can make changes there.
"It's going to take us being, as a nation, deeply passionate and angry about the failing education for all kids," she said. "When was the last time we heard some really solid questions for these candidates on education in a debate? You know all about the issues in our personal lives, but ... education is the thing we should be angry about."
I completely agree, so let's talk about Barack and education reform.
An excellent launching point is this April 2, 2008 Slate piece by Alexander Russo, but eventually we will segue to Obama's relationship with unrepentant Weatherman Bill Ayers.
The Obama/Ayers soundbite is this: Obama and Ayers (a professor of education) worked together on the Chicago Annenberg Challenge for several years in an ultimately unsuccessful effort to reform Chicago's public schools. The extent of their relationship is not clear, since Obama has been opaque on this topic both in a televised debate and at his website. However, Ayers was instrumental in founding the Chicago Annenberg Challenge and Obama was the group's first chairman, so there is something being concealed there.
Let's start with Slate:
Chicago School Days
Obama's lackluster record on education....the story of Obama's involvement suggests that on similarly contentious fronts involving national education policy, like the No Child Left Behind Act, he might respond the same way—holding back when powerful interest groups collide, only to support the status quo of local control in the end. The candidate's Chicago record on education also raises questions about his much-vaunted ability to bring different sides together to find lasting solutions.
Obama's links to local school councils began more than 20 years ago, when they were first being created. His South Side community organizing group, the Developing Communities Project, supported the 1988 reform act that created the councils. A decade later, when Obama was a second-year state senator, he served on the board of several local education foundations that had supported the councils and chaired the board for the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a $50 million philanthropic effort that supported local control.
Obama was uniquely well-placed to take the lead in mediating this battle. He had a relatively strong background in community and education issues. He was friends and pickup-basketball buddies with Arne Duncan, who was then in charge of magnet schools (and has since taken over Vallas' job). Obama also knew Vallas, who liked him. Then, as now, he was considered a politician who could unify people and resolve challenging conflicts...
After the outcome was clear, Barack finally ratified the emerging consensus:
In being so late to the debate, however, Obama didn't really have to stand up to anyone—not the groups he was affiliated with, not Vallas, not Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley. He was just approving the final result. He remained loyal to his roots, but only when it was easy to do so...
...Based on Obama's actions in Chicago in 1999, it's hard to imagine him taking charge of the continuing debate over whether and how No Child Left Behind should be renewed. Forced to take a side, Obama's record suggests that, ultimately, he would be sympathetic to local autonomy. But there's not much evidence to show that he would be able to help mend deep and abiding schisms between testing hawks and local-control advocates. And without strong and unifying national leadership, our troubled public-education system stands little chance of making the dramatic improvements that it needs.
Well, well. Please note the reference to the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, because thereby hangs a tale.
In a White House ceremony in December 1993, philanthropist Walter Annenberg announced the Annenberg Challenge, putting $500 million towards efforts to reform public education.
Bill Ayers and two others formed and led a "Working Group" that produced Chicago's grant application; in 1995 Chicago was awarded $49.2 million, creating the Chicago Annenberg Challenge Fund ("CACF") in a well-publicized civic event.
The first chairman of the board of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge Fund was Barack Obama. This is disclosed on Obama's Senate forms and he is mentioned in a history of the CACF [link, p. 54 of the text]. The board was responsible for hiring an Executive Director, Ken Rolling, who should have been involved on a daily basis (and does anyone know anything about Mr. Rolling?).
The "Working Group" mentioned above morphed into the Chicago School Reform Collaborative, co-chaired by Bill Ayers and one of his two co-founders of the Working Group. The Collaborative then worked closely with the CACF for several years. Ayers' role is noted in this history and at his own website on his resume.
A sidebar - my guess is that this link between Ayers and Obama has gone unreported because of the name game; despite a close working relationship, the Collaborative and the CACF don't leap off the page as being obviously associated, although the Ayers resume is clear enough - "The Annenberg Challenge" appears in parentheses right next to "Chicago School Reform Collaborative".
So, what was the nature of the Ayers/Obama relationship back in simpler times? Obama was asked about Ayers in the Philadelphia debate and described him as "a guy who lives in my neighborhood, who's a professor of English in Chicago...". It was left to Hillary to mention the widely publicized link between Obama and Ayers, both of whom once overlapped on the board of the Woods Fund of Chicago.
Obama's website then produced a Freudian's delight - a "Fact Check" (echoing the famous Annenberg FactCheck.org) purporting to explain the Obama/Ayers relationship but omitting any mention of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge Fund.
A bit later, Obama was asked about Ayers during his Fox news interview and gave an answer that should have left reporters scratching their heads and doing some research: - Obama described an overlapping board membership with Ayers that couldn't be the Woods Fund of Chicago:
Now, Mr. Ayres [Ayers] is a 60 plus year old individual who lives in my neighborhood, who did something that I deplore 40 years ago when I was six or seven years old. By the time I met him, he was a professor of education at the University of Illinois.
We served on a board together that had Republicans, bankers, lawyers, focused on education, who worked for Mayor Daley. Mayor Daley, the same Mayor Daley probably who when he was a state attorney prosecuted Mr. Ayres's wife for those activities, I (INAUDIBLE) the point is that to somehow suggest that in any way I endorse his deplorable acts 40 years ago, because I serve on a board with him.
The Woods Fund of Chicago focused on poverty and did not work for the mayor; the Chicago Annenberg Challenge Fund focused on education, but did not work for the mayor. A successor group, the Leadership Council of the Chicago Public Schools Education Fund, worked for the mayor and focused on education, but Bill Ayers was not a member (his father, Thomas Ayers, and his brother, John Ayers, overlapped with Obama).
So what does it mean? Well, it is not going to be possible to evaluate this Obama/Ayers link until Obama is a bit more forthcoming about it, so having him or his campaign provide some basic facts would be an excellent starting point for some enterprising reporter.
One might well ask - how would Obama characterize his involvement with the Chicago Annenberg Challenge Fund? This story says he was involved; this one, also by Alexander Russo of the later Slate piece, says Obama was a non-player in Chicago school reform.]
How closely did Obama work with the fund's executive director, Ken Rolling (and what does Mr. Rolling have to say about this)?
What did Obama know of Bill Ayers' involvement (which the rest of us now know to be extensive)?
Eventually, the CACF was viewed as a failure (the final report says it had "little impact") - what did Obama learn from that?
Finally, there is a question of shared values; setting aside Ayers' bomb-tossing proclivities of the 70's, he has a very hard left approach to education; for example, he explained to Hugo Chavez and a Venezuelan audience that public education was a way to promote the revolution [and lots more here from Ed Lasky]. How much of this did Obama know then? Or is this just another situation, as with Jeremiah Wright, where Obama simply didn't know anything about the fellow with whom he was associating?
In some ways, Obama's experience is analogous to Hillary's failed health care initiative of the mid 90's - he tackled a publicized, important, politically charged topic, and belly-flopped. The obvious difference is that his failure is not being discussed. And it's possible he was merely a figurehead who was hoping to take credit for success but distanced himself from failure; I leave it to his spinners to present that lack of interest in education reform more positively.
As to where this story is headed - who knows? I don't think Hillary's staffers are regular readers here, but they may have picked it up from Global Labor, Larry Johnson or Jeralyn Merritt, and they sure could use this now. McCain's people and the RNC ought to like this story since McCain is comfortable bashing Ayers, but September or October may be fine for them.
The MSM has done nothing here, unsurprisingly. As to Rush, Hannity, and the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy - other than Hot Air, American Thinker, and Wizbang this is getting no traction. Michael Barone wrote about how the Ayers story had broken through to the MSM, but they have a long way to go. And we call ourselves a Noise Machine!
A few excerpts appear after the break to document points made above.
1. The Working Group [link]
When three of Chicago's most prominent education reform leaders met for lunch at a Thai restaurant six years ago to discuss the just-announced $500 million Annenberg Challenge, their main goal was to figure out how to ensure that any Annenberg money awarded to Chicago "didn't go down the drain," said William Ayers, a professor of education at the University of Illinois in Chicago. Ayers, who was at that lunch table in late 1993, helped write the successful Chicago grant application.
...Having secured Annenberg funding for Chicago, the working group would soon evolve into a more formal organization, albeit with strong ties to the groups that wrote the grant proposal. Initially run out of shared space in the offices of the Cross-City Campaign and administered through an existing philanthropic organization called the Donors Forum, the Chicago Challenge soon became its own new foundation with status as an independent fiscal agent. By late 1995, Ken Rolling had been named executive director, a board of directors had been established, and the first round of grants had been awarded. Rolling lacked experience in education but came from the foundation world and was well-versed in community organizing. The board, which was intended to set policy, raise matching funds, and hire an executive director, included prominent educators and business leaders. A second entity, the newly-created Chicago School Reform Collaborative, was also established. Its twenty-plus members were elected from the group of educators and advocates who had helped shape the grant proposal. Initially, at least, this offshoot of the working group functioned as the operations arm of the Chicago Challenge. However, this situation created procedural and ethical concerns and in time the Collaborative was transformed into an advisory body.


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Taylor Swift Shoots Her "Begin Again" Music Video In Paris
"Shooting a music video in Paris today… (always wanted to say that!!)," Taylor Swift happily tweeted on Monday (October 1). Yes, the location for the "little cafe" where the Glamour cover girl will "Begin Again" is in France — much to our surprise given the single's sad, sweet and incredibly country sound. While it would be "presumptuous" to assume which former beau Taylor is singing about in her latest track, it is clear that the Red songbird has chosen to mend her broken heart while biking through the streets of Paris — in several retro-inspired ensembles that the country pop goddess wears oh so well.
Is a bike ride through the City Of Lights what you expected from Taylor? Tell us below or on Facebook and Twitter.


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Introduce a new protein your family will love
Quick-and-Easy Cheesy Gulf Shrimp Nachos
(Family Features) The easiest way to get the family together for a meal is with a delicious, homemade dish with tasty ingredients, such as protein-packed shrimp.
There are many scrumptious reasons for including shrimp into your family's diet. In fact, the American Heart Association and other experts recommend eating seafood at least twice a week, and the FDA just announced this year that pregnant women should consume between 8-12 ounces of seafood a week. It's easy to work towards this dietary goal by introducing Gulf shrimp into your diet. This versatile protein is easy to prepare; has a wonderfully salty and fresh flavor from the nutrient-rich environment in which it is caught; and is also widely available fresh and frozen at your local grocery.
Better-for-you benefits
Flavorful Gulf shrimp contains high-quality protein and a variety of essential nutrients, such as vitamins B-6 and B-12. Plus, it's a natural source of vitamin D, low in saturated fat and offers healthy omega-3 fatty acids that have been shown to help reduce the risk of heart disease.
Simple substitutions
Add flair and flavor to your family's meal routine (and keep the kids happy) with these easy meal ideas that incorporate Gulf shrimp:
- Breakfast: Dice it up and add to omelets with fresh vegetables, such as sautéed spinach and tomatoes.
- Lunch: Perk up your midday meal by adding it to salads and tortilla soups.
- Appetizer or snack: Serve with simple cocktail sauce for a no-fuss crowd pleaser, or a light stick-with-you snack.
- Dinner: Mix it into spaghetti sauce and serve on a bed of whole wheat pasta.
For more great Gulf shrimp recipe ideas, visit www.eatgulfseafood.com.
Quick-and-Easy Cheesy Gulf Shrimp Nachos
- 1/4 pound tortilla chips
- 1 low-sodium black beans, cooked, rinsed and drained
- 1 1/2 cup shredded low-fat cheese
- 1/2 pounds small fresh or frozen Gulf shrimp (or large shrimp cut into bite-sized pieces), boiled and peeled
- 1 large tomato, finely diced
- 1/4 cup scallions, diced
- Low-fat or fat-free sour cream (optional)
- Salsa (optional)
- Fresh guacamole (optional)
- Preheat oven to broil. In large, oven-proof platter, place tortilla chips in single layer. Sprinkle black beans and half of cheese on top of chips, then evenly distribute shrimp on top. Add diced tomato as next layer, then cover with remaining cheese.
- Cook under broiler for roughly 2 minutes or until cheese is melted.
- Remove from oven and let cool slightly. Garnish nachos with sliced scallions, and top with sour cream, salsa and guacamole.
2-4 servings
Notes, Tips & Suggestions
Recipe provided to the Gulf Seafood Marketing Coalition by Chef Justin Timineri of Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
Total Time:
10 minutes
Gulf Seafood Marketing Coalition


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- 13 December 2013
Change to Board of Directors - Emmet Hobbs
Mainfreight advises that it has received the resignation of Emmet Hobbs as a director to take effect at the end of 2013.
Emmet Hobbs has served as a director of Mainfreight for more than ten years, and in that time has seen the company triple in size in terms of revenue and team numbers, and extend its operations into Southeast Asia, South America, Canada and Europe. "I will always be a strong advocate of Mainfreight, and will watch with interest as they continue their wonderful journey," said Mr Hobbs.
Mainfreight's Chairman, Bruce Plested, considers Mr Hobbs to have been the perfect director. "Emmet has a deep knowledge of Mainfreight, its culture and beliefs, and has always demonstrated the highest regard for our people. He has held many senior positions internationally in his professional career, and his knowledge and experience of working overseas has proved extremely helpful as we have grown our business around the world".
Mainfreight retains a Board of six Directors and will not seek to expand this number in the near term.
For further information, please contact:
Don Braid
Group Managing Director
+64 (09) 259 5503